Consuming media presentations (i.e., audio and/or video presentations) generally involves listening to audio information and/or viewing video information. Media presentations may include, for example, radio programs, music, television programs, movies, still images, etc. Media-centric companies such as, for example, advertising companies, broadcast networks, etc. are often interested in the viewing and listening interests of audience to better market their products and/or to improve their programming. A well-known technique often used to measure the exposure and/or number of audience members exposed to media involves awarding media exposure credit to a media presentation for each audience member that is exposed to the media presentation.
Media exposure credit is often measured by monitoring the media consumption of audience members using, for example, personal portable metering devices (PPMs), also known as portable metering devices, tags, and portable personal meters. A PPM is an electronic device that is typically worn (e.g., clipped to a belt or other apparel) or carried by an audience member and configured to monitor media consumption (e.g., viewing and/or listening activities) using any of a variety of media monitoring techniques. For example, one technique of monitoring media consumption involves detecting or collecting information (e.g., ancillary codes, signatures, etc.) from audio and/or video signals that are emitted or presented by media presentation devices (e.g., televisions, stereos, speakers, computers, video display devices, video games, mobile telephones, etc.).
While wearing a PPM, an audience member or monitored individual performs their usual daily routine, which may include listening to the radio and/or other sources of visual and/or audio-visual media and/or watching television programs and/or other sources of visual media. As the audience member is exposed to (e.g., is in proximity to) media, a PPM associated with (e.g., assigned to and carried by) that audience member detects audio and/or video information associated with the media, generates monitoring data, and/or determines location data. In general, monitoring data may include any information that is representative of (or associated with) and/or that may be used to identify a particular media presentation (e.g., a song, a television program, a movie, a video game, etc.) and/or to identify the source of the media presentation (e.g., a television, a digital video disk player, a stereo system, etc.). For example, the monitoring data may include (a) signatures that are collected or generated by the PPM based on audio or visual characteristics of the media, (b) audio codes that are broadcast simultaneously with (e.g., embedded in) the media, (c) infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) signals emitted by a remote control device and/or emitted by a transceiver configured to transmit location information, (d) information supplied by the audience member using any of a variety of data input devices, etc.
In several known systems, information associated with the location of an audience member is used to determine or to collect media monitoring information. For example, location information may be used to identify media (e.g., billboards) to which audience members were exposed and/or to better understand the environments within which audience members consume different types of media information. Thus, location information may be used to track and log the location of an audience member as the audience member performs a daily routine.
Location information may be collected using any of several known systems such as, for example, location code emitters and broadcast positioning systems. Location code emitters are typically configured to emit location codes associated with respective areas within which the location code emitters are disposed. The codes may be, for example, acoustic codes, audio codes, RF codes, IR codes, Bluetooth® codes, etc., that are detected by PPMs worn or carried by audience members. More specifically, the location codes may be automatically and continuously or intermittently detected and collected by a PPM as the PPM is moved from area to area.
Broadcast positioning systems (e.g., global positioning systems, radio frequency positioning systems, etc.) are typically configured to work in combination with position monitors or PPMs that are worn or carried by audience members. The position monitors are configured to determine and/or collect location information associated with the location of audience members based on information emitted by the broadcast positioning systems.
Media monitoring information and location information are often used to credit media presentations to which audience members have been exposed as having been consumed by the audience member. However, credit given to media presentations based on exposure is not necessarily indicative of actual media consumption. For example, an audience member may be within hearing and viewing distance of a television program, but may be inattentive, preoccupied or otherwise not actively consuming the content of the television program. Thus, assigning consumption credit to media based on exposure, alone, may result in inaccurate audience measurement data.
Another drawback of the traditional operation of PPMs stems from the dependency on the audience member's ability/willingness to comply with PPM wearing/carrying requirements. More specifically, for example, the data collected by the PPM represents media exposed to the audience member provided that the PPM is sufficiently near the audience member to detect such media. As a result, each audience member who agrees to be monitored is required to comply with prescribed carrying/wearing requirements. Such requirements, generally identify a minimum percentage of daily waking time during which the audience member is required to carry/wear the PPM, but may also (or instead) identify specific periods of time during which the PPM must be carried/worn or a minimum number of PPM carrying/wearing hours per day. If such requirements are not met, media exposure may go undetected or media exposure may be inaccurately detected if, for example, the PPM detects a media presentation to which the audience member was not exposed because the audience member was not within proximity of the PPM when that particular media presentation was detected.
Compliance verification techniques are often as difficult to implement as attempting to enforce audience members to comply with appropriate operating guidelines of the PPM. An audience member is often relied on to comply with appropriate operating guidelines of PPM usage. However, human factors such as forgetfulness, personal preference, stress, etc. often affect negatively the intentions of audience members to fully comply in their usage of PPMs.